Influence of watering regimes on early growth of Annona muricata seedlings

Abstract

The study determined the response of Annona muricata seedlings to water regime and it effect on early growth. Levels of water required was determined by subjecting seedlings to four watering frequencies vis-à-vis Daily watering, watering every two days, watering every four days and once a week. The experiment was laid out in a Complete Randomized Design (CRD) and parameters such as stem height, collar diameter, leaf area, leaf number were collected fortnightly while, dry weight, fresh weight, root to shoot ratio, root length, root weight, shoot length, turgidity weight and relative water content were evaluated after Twelve (12) weeks of growth. Data collected was subjected to One Way Analysis of Variance on SAS software and significant means was separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT). From the result, number of leaves (18.93) was significantly (p<0.05) increased in seedlings watered daily while seedling height (39.51 cm), collar diameter (8.05 mm) and leaf area (150.29 cm2) were not significantly (p>0.05) different to watering regimes increased. Also, physiological variables such as dry weight (11.67 g), fresh weight (28.88 g), turgid weight (24.46 g), root weight (14.53 g) and shoot weight (14.36 g) increased significantly (p<0.05) in seedling water daily. Availability of water owing to daily watering of Annona muricata seedlings heightened its growth rate.